More and more companies are moving in part or even attempting a complete move to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) as they are realizing the benefits. I'm even seeing a trend of company management mandates.. "If it is available as-a-service, go that route.
The following are some clear advantages to leveraging the SaaS model:
1. Ease of Proof of Concept (POC) - IT organizations are constantly evaluating new software...either to consider replacing the software they have or to address a new need. There is a good deal of time necessary to gather hardware requirements, identify/acquire a server to install on, perform the installation, and configure it. Additionally, once the POC is complete, it often requires either removing the software or moving/re-installing it for use in Production.
A SaaS model takes all of that away. Configure a connection and you're off and running with your evaluation.
2. New Releases and Upgrade Deployments - There is a fine line software vendors need to walk between being responsive to the end users' needs and providing updates in a timely manner without inundating them with new releases too frequently. All too often I've heard, "You're not doing us any favors with all these new releases. We just finished the last upgrade. These upgrades need to be scheduled and take time."
This predicament goes away with SaaS. As bug fixes and feature enhancements become available, they can be pushed out to the users in real-time.
3. Cost - CPU, RAM, Storage, it all costs money. On-prem resources need to be allocated to host the software. What's more is that there is a cost associated with the time/effort to install, and administer the software.
This cost is nearly eliminated with a SaaS solution. Hardware costs and time to maintain the software is almost zero.
4. Scalability - Per the items mentioned above, the same holds true to expand the software footprint if needed.
Most all of this responsibility for the infrastructure is on the SaaS provider. Computing power? Handled. Prefer a repository with more data retention? That's more likely....
And those a just a few of the many advantages of a SaaS model.
Quest realized these benefits and has introduced a state-of-the-art (SQLServer) Database Monitoring solution, Spotlight Cloud.
To some, they still want/need the control of an on-prem solution and Quest continues to lead the way with these traditional monitoring implementations. But for those that have determined that the benefits above drive their decision for a SaaS solution, Spotlight Cloud is just that...monitoring delivered with ease. Don't let the name confuse you as to what Spotlight Cloud can monitor. It has the ability to monitor and diagnose databases that are on-prem and/or in the cloud.
Look! "Oooooo.... Ahhhhhh....."
Watch this short video to learn more -> https://www.spotlightcloud.io/a-tale-of-two-dbas
It's easy to sign up for a free trial -> https://www.spotlightcloud.io/
